An unexpected game has appeared as a Steam Greenlight candidate. Ghostlight has submitted Agarest: Generations of War to Valve’s loyal customers to see if there’s enough interest to release a Windows PC port of Idea Factory and Compile Heart’s strategic RPG/dating sim. Ghostlight has been talking about bringing JRPGs to PCs for a while, and I guess it decided Agarest was the best debut candidate. It’s taking the Xbox 360 version, with Aksys’ localization, adding a keyboard and mouse control scheme to complement the existing gamepad option and hoping people will support it.
It’s actually a good idea. I’m not the biggest fan of the Agarest series. (I feel there are better Idea Factory strategic RPGs, like Blazing Soul Accelate.) Yet, I think Ghostlight’s cause is noble and that Agarest: Generations of War could do better on the PC than it did on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Granted, it means no “Naughty Edition” mousepad for true fans, but I think there are at least five good reasons to put it on Steam.

It will give a small game a larger audience.Agarest: Generations of War isn’t exactly a household name, outside of Japan. Getting approved on Steam Greenlight would introduce more people to the series.

It really isn’t as perverted as it looks. Yes, I managed to type that with a straight face, even though an image like this…
…is part of the Steam Greenlight gallery. Trust me, as someone who’s played Agarest War Zero andAgarest War 2, it’s about 25% talking, 70% battling and 5% crazy, pervert stuff.

PC gamers are more accustomed to methodical, strategic games. There’s a lot of depth to Agarest: Generations of War. There are plenty of things to take into account when picking out a wife for Leonhardt, Ladius, Thoma and Duran, deciding which path (light or dark) to follow and which end to shoot for. I think PC gamers would be more excepting of the minutia and tedious battle systems.

The relationship and generational mechanics are really quite interesting. The story of Agarest: Generations of War spans five generations. The dating sim elements allow players to determine who Leonhardt, Ladius, Thoma and Duran marry, with the unions changing Ladius, Thoma, Duran and Rex’s stats and appearance. Marriages also help determine stat and stat growth of the sons, which means it may be better to marry the hero off to a female party member you don’t like, to make sure the next generation’s hero is better.

Fans may make trainers or cheat programs for the PC version. I’m not going to lie, the Agarest games can be tedious. There were times when I was playing Agarest Zero or Agarest 2 and wishing I could just immediately promote everyone about 10 levels so battles wouldn’t take forever. Or that I could click a button, and them have whatever sidequest items I needed in my inventory so the story would advance. My hope is, if Agarest: Generations of War made it onto Steam, that someone more technologically capable felt that way and created a program to cut out the run-around so the overall game would be more enjoyable.

Agarest: Generations of War is already immediately available in North America for the PS3 and Xbox 360 as Record of Agarest War. Xbox 360 owners can get a physical copy, but PS3 owners can only find it on the PlayStation Store. If my list above has helped convince you that it deserves a chance on Steam as well, you can vote for it on Steam Greenlight.